Dipstick wiper



United States fatent O 3,360,819 DIPTICK WKPER Arnold M. Bruins, 1057Depot St., Manawa, Wis. 54949 Filed Dec. 17, 1965, Ser. No. 514,5fi7 8Claims. (Cl. -410) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The device shown has to dowith a casing containing an absorbent pad and a spring-biased rockershaft carrying a dual-finger pop up wiper. A sliding lid forcibly foldsand retracts the wiper into the casing when closed. When said lid isslid open, the wiper is freed and pops up for use. One transverse end ofthe lid acts (1) as a limit stop and (2) to engage and swing the wiperin and down. The lid has a body attaching chain.

The present invention relates to a simple, practical and novel devicethrough the medium of which the lubricantcoated surfaces of aconventional graduated dipstick can be effectually swabbed clean andpromptly and elfective- 1y readied for insertion into and measuring thequantity of fluid, a lubricant, for example, in a vehicle crankcase,reservoir or an equivalent fluid supply container and has to do, moreparticularly, with an improved handling and wiping device which willefiiciently serve the purposes and needs of service station attendants,or, for that'matter, automobile owners and users.

Any-one conversant with the state of the art to which the inventionrelates is aware that many and varied practices and devices are resortedto with a view toward fulfilling the needs and requirements of thosepersons who are called upon to swab and use gauge rods, commonly knownas dipsticks. In fact, it is common knowledge that a number of gauge rodwipers and dipstick cleaners have been patented wherein, for example,opposed wiping elements are arranged in such a manner that the lubricantcoated surfaces of the dipstick can be drawn therethrough for cleaningas a step preparatory to dipping the same into the reservoir to take ameasurement. It will suifice, insofar as background information isneeded here, to mention but one of these patents, namely, Nielsensdipstick cleaner 2,453,452. This reference patent has been chosen asexemplary because it shows, similar to the herein disclosed invention, apair of resilient wiping fingers which are close together and which havesleeves or means thereon to facilitate wiping the dipstick therebetween.Then, too, in Nielsen the fingers or prongs are confined within thespace or receptacle of an enclosing shield or housing.

An object of the present invention is to improve upon prior art cleanersand wipers and, to the ends desired, a simple box-like casing orenclosure is employed. More particularly the casing is open along thetop and provided with a sliding lid or closing plate. A readilyinsertable and removable as well as replaceable sponge of absorbent padis confined in the receptacle portion and serves to take care of the oildrippage from the dipstick as it is being swabbed and cleaned. Then,too, the pad can be replaced when it has been objectionably saturatedand either cleaned and replaced or a new pad may be brought into use.

One of the features of the invention has to do with a spring biasedWiper unit, that is a unit which is mounted on a simple rod or shaftwhich is rotatable in bearings provided therefor in the receptacleportion of the casing. The arrangement is such that two sleeved fingersare joined at lower ends to a median portion of the rocker shaft or rodand spring means is attached thereto and also 3,366,819 Patented Jan. 2,1968 to one end wall of the casing in such a manner that just as soon asthe lid is slid open, the spring means comes into play and the wiperfingers .pop up to a ready-to-use position. When the lid is slid to aclosed position it exerts pressure against the wiping fingers and foldsthe wiping unit to a down out-of-the-way and stored position within theconfines of the receptacle portion.

Another feature resides in the fact that the lid is provided with stoppins which engage the wall of the box or casing so that the movement ofthe fingers is limited in one direction, that is wherein they assume anupstanding readyto-use wiping state.

In addition to the above it is desirable to provide a chain and toconnect one end to the casing or box by way of the lid or cover and toattach the other end to the users belt whereby the device when it isclosed can be stored in the users pocket and brought into play with aminimum of effort and time.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view in perspective on a small scale showing the dipstickwiper as constructed and with the wiper unit enclosed within theconfines of the box or casing;

FIGURE 2 is a view also in perspective and enlarged (about full size),showing the invention and also showing, what is important, the lid whichis slid to its complete uncovering position at which time the fingers ofthe wiping unit are spring biased into their ready-to-use position andrelationship;

FIGURE 3 is a view taken approximately on the plane of the centrallongitudinal section line 33 of FIGURE 2 with parts in section andelevation;

FIGURE 4 is a section taken approximately on the plane of the line 44 ofFlGURE 3.

Referring now to the views of the drawing the casing (container orhousing) comprises a substantially rectangular elongated sheet material(either metal or suitable plastic material) open-top box which isdenoted at 6 and is provided with a bottom wall 8, longitudinal sidewalls 10 and end walls 12 and 13. This box or casing is normallyprovided with an open top and the side walls are provided withlongitudinal outstanding attaching and keying flanges 14. These flangesserve to accommodate the' channeled edge portions 16 of thesubstantially flat slidingly mounted closing lid or cover 18. One endportion of the lid is denoted at 20 and is provided with a struckout eye22 to which a link 24 on a carrying chain 26 is connected. The other endof the chain is provided with a belt-hook 28 which serves in a manner tobe hereinafter described. The other transverse end portion 30 of the lidor cover is provided with headed studs or stop limit pins 32 whichperform in the manner suggested in FIG. 2 but better shown in FIGS. 3and 4, that is, wherein the movement of the lid or cover in a directionfrom a fully closed position to a fully open position is limited whenthe stop pins 32 engage the upper edge of the end wall 13. The edge 30is also a limit stop member for the wiper unit, that is, the unitdenoted generally by the numeral 34. This unit is characterizedprimarily by a pair of resilient but suitably stiff wires or rods 36which constitute gripping and wiping fingers for the blade portion 38 ofthe dipstick 4!) appearing in phantom lines in FIG. 2. The lower endportions of the two fingers are close together and are joined with a hubmember 42 which in turn is fixedly mounted on the median portion of arocker shaft 44 which is rotatable in opposed bearings 46 providedtherefor intermediate the side walls of the box or casing. Each fingeris preferably covered with a firm rubber or an equivalent sleeve 48. Asa matter of fact, the two fingers with the rubber sleeves thereonprovide a squeegeetype wiper unit. As shown better in FIG. 3 a coilspring 50 is provided and one end 52 is connected with the rocker shaftby way of the hub or connector means 42. The other end of the coilspring is anchored at 54 on the upper portion of the end wall 13 asshown in FIG. 3. The tension of the spring is such that when the fingers36 of the Wiper unit are in the down or enclosed state (as shown inphantom lines in FIG. 3) the spring is extended. At this time the lid orcover is slid to its closed position and consequently stores the wipingfingers in the receptacle portion above the plane of the insertable andremovable sponge or absorbent pad 56. As soon as the lid is opened, thatis, slid in a direction from left to right considering FIGS. 1 and 2, insuccession, it will be seen that the spring 50 exerts a pull on andlifts the fingers 36 with their sleeves 48 to an upstanding ready-to-useposition. Consequently, when one desires to use the device all that isnecessary is to slide the lid gradually to an open position and to allowthe fingers to pop up under the tension of the coil spring. When the lidis slid in the opposite direction from right to left the edge 30 engagesthe fingers and forces the fingers to the down stored or out of the wayposition shown in phantom lines in FIG. 3.

It is within the purview of the invention to use the chain means or toomit it as desired. It is preferably employed and the chain is clippedto the users belt so that the user (the attendant) can by holding thebox part in one hand and pulling against the chain, pull back the cover.This will then actuate the enclosed spring and raise the wiper unit toits upstanding ready-to-use position. The dipstick is then handled inthe other hand, that is inserted between the wiper fingers and the boxor casing canbe closed by pushing the cover against the body. This onehand operation is quite useful and time-saving and novel. It allows thisotherwise messy job to be handled without touching the oil or any partof the mechanism. The interior of the box with its pad serves to take upthe excess oil as is obvious.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A device through the medium of which a surfacecoated dipstick can beswabbed and quickly readied for manual dipping and measuring usecomprising a retractable and projectable wiping unit embodying a pair ofopposed side-by-side resilient wiping fingers between which the dipstickcan be swished and its surfaces swabbed clean, said fingers beingnormally closed together and yieldingly urged into wiping contact witheach other and the dipstick surfaces, an open top casing in which saidwiping unit is wholly retracted and protectively encased when it is notreadied for projected wiping use, spring-biased means hingedly anchoringand operatively mounting said wiping unit in said casing, said meanspermitting said unit to swing automatically in an arcuate path from saidretracted position through said open top to an outstanding projectedready-to-use position and cover means normally overlying, engaging andretaining said wiping unit in a retracted out-of-use state in saidcasing.

2. The device according to claim 1, and wherein said casing defines andprovides a receptacle, and an absorbent pad confined in a bottom portiononly of said receptacle, said pad being proportional with saidreceptacle, readily insertable, removable and replaceable and underlyingsaid wiping unit when it is in its out-of-use retracted state.

3. The device according to claim 1, and wherein said cover meanscomprises a lid which is slidingly mounted on said casing, one end ofsaid lid adjacent said springbiased hinging means having limit stopswhich are adapted to abut a coacting part of said casing when the lid isopen, and said one end providing a stop shoulder against which saidfingers swing and are held when said lid is open.

4. The device according to claim 1 and wherein said casing ischaracterized by an elongated generally rectangular box having a bottomwall, side walls and interconnecting end walls, said side walls beingprovided along upper lengthwise edges with outstanding cover meansassembling and retaining flanges, and said cover means comprising a lidhaving edge portions slidingly mounted on said flanges.

5. The structure defined in claim 4 and wherein said casing provides areceptacle and, in combination, a readily insertable and removable aswell as replaceable absorbent pad confined in said receptacle, said padbeing proportional with said receptacle and confined to the lowerhalf-portion of said receptacle, said wiping unit being interposedbetween a top surface of said pad and an underneath surface of said lidwhen retracted and being freed to automatically assume its projectedposition as soon as the lid is slid to a fully open position.

6. The structure according to claim 4 and wherein said wiping unitcomprises not only a pair of fingers, but fingers whose lower ends arejoined to a rocker shaft, said rocker shaft being mounted foroscillation in the receptacle portion of said casing, there being a coilspring, said coil spring being anchored at one end on an adjacent endWall of the casing and having its opposite end attached to the lower endportions of said fingers, the adjacent end portion of said lid beingprovided with limit stops which are engageable with said end wall, theend of the lid provided with said limit stops being engageable with saidfingers in a manner that the lid constitutes the ways and means for notonly opening and closing the receptacle of the casing but also serves tofold the wiper unit to a down, out-ofthe-way stored position in saidreceptacle and allows the fingers to pop up to a ready-to-use positionwhen the lid is moved to an open, or substantially open position.

7. The device according to claim 1 and, in combination, a chain havingone end fixedly connected to said cover means, the other end of saidchain being free and being adapted to be connected to the person of theuser.

8. A dipstick wiper comprising an elongated open top box-like casingembodying a bottom wall, side walls and end walls, said side walls beingprovided along upper lengthwise edges with coplanar outstanding covermeans assembling and retaining flanges, an insertable and removableabsorbent pad confined in a lower half-portion of the receptacle portionof said casing, a rocker shaft spanning the space between said sidewalls and mounted for oscillation between said side walls above theplane of said pad and below the plane of said upper lengthwise edges andlocated close to but inwardly of one of said end walls, a projectableand retractable automatic pop-up-type Wiping unit embodying a pair ofresilient side-by-side wiping fingers in a plane at right angles to saidshaft and having lower ends fixed to said shaft, a normally tensionedcoil spring having one end connected with said shaft and its other endanchored on said one end wall to rotatably bias said shaft, cover meansembodying a lid having marginal guides slidable on said flanges, andlimit stops fixed on and depending from said lid adjacent but spacedfrom one end of said lid, said stops bein adapted to abut said one endwall when said lid is slid to assume an open position, and said one endof said lid constituting a limit stop (References on foliowing page) 6against which said fingers are adapted to rest when assum- 2,439,171 4/1948 Kreider 15210.2 ing a projected ready-to-use position. 2,675,574 4/1954 Davis 15-210.2

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS UN T STATES PATENTS 5 743,589 1/ 1956Great Britain.

315,195 4/1885 Weiss 15257.05

ROBERT W. MICHELL, Primary Examiner. 1,719,037 7/1929 Wolf 15-2102

